Ranjeet Singh Kohli alias Raquibul Hassan, the main accused in high profile love-jihad case related to ace shooter Tara Shahdeo, was granted bail by Jharkhand High Court on Saturday.
Shahdeo had alleged that Kohli married her in July 2014, by hiding about his religion and started torturing physically and mentally her to get converted into Islam.
Kohli’s Advocate, BM Tripathi said that acting Chief Justice HC Mishra granted bail to Kohli on conditions to deposit his passport, not to influence witnesses and appear on each and every date of hearing in the trial court.
If any of the prior mentioned conditions are violated, then Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is at liberty to move the court seeking cancellation of bail, he added.
Kohli will also have to furnish a bail bond of Rs 50,000 at the CBI Court in Ranchi.
The allegations had caused a stir with the Union Home Ministry seeking a report on the purported case of ‘love jihad'. Kohli was jailed in 2014, immediately after the FIR was lodged against him and others at Hindpiri Police Station in Ranchi.
Notably, Shahdeo was granted a divorce by a family court in Ranchi in June last year on the ground of cruelty.
It may be mentioned here that a CBI Court in Ranchi has framed charges against Raqibul Hassan alias Ranjit Kohli for allegedly giving false information about his religion while marrying national-level shooter Tara Shahdeo. The Court also framed charges against four others for allegedly helping Hassan.
The special CBI judge, Ajay Kumar Gudia, read out the charges against the accused in their presence on July 26. The other accused against whom charges were framed are Raqibul’s mother Kaushal Rani, former judge Pankaj Srivastav, the then judicial magistrate of Gaya Rajesh Prasad.
All the accused were charged for helping Hassan. The accused have denied that they helped charges. The Court fixed August 23 to begin the process of recording statements of witnesses.
The charges were framed under IPC 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 212 (harbouring an offender). The Court separated another accused, Ajay Kumar, from the case while framing charges.
Shahdeo had filed an FIR with the Hindpiri police station in Ranchi in 2014 against Hassan. The case was handed to CBI in 2015.
Principal Judge (Family Court) BK Gautam had granted the divorce plea by Shahdeo on June 27, 2018 on the ground of false information and the subsequent domestic and physical violence.
The divorce petition was filed on January 6, 2017, on the ground that the marriage took place on the basis of false information about Ranjit Kohli alias Raqibul Hassan's religion, which subsequently led to alleged cruelty against Tara Shahdeo by her husband, her counsel had told the family court.
